Star Citizen Nightbus Episode 3 - So Much Angst

Welcome to the Star Citizen NightBus, a quirky mixture of fact, fiction and opinion. I’m your host, Alysianah from AlysianahsWorld.com. This week’s show focuses on community reactions, lore and more fan fiction. I’ll have to save the conclusion of Bryony’s Dilemma for the next episode. I need to finish the final edits. I’d planned it for this show but Chop Shop got away from me. What I sat down to write as Flash Fiction ended up shorty story length.

Our show topics are:

So Much Angst

Lore from Zerah

PVP – you in or out?

Chop Shop

Sit back, relax and I’ll see you on the other side…

Exiting statis. The Nightbus departing in 3…2…1

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SHOW TRANSCRIPT

SO MUCH ANGST

Some weeks it feels as though the Star Citizen community is trying its best to tear its throat out. Pages of angst filled posts on Reddit, rage posts on the forums and angry comments everywhere. I’m not sure I quite get what all the drama is about.

It’s not that I don’t see the fumbles being made by Cloud Imperium Games on their way to developing the ambitious project collectively known as Star Citizen. I shake my head at some of the decisions. I cringe at the fodder they too easily hand to their detractors. I feel embarrassed at times that they don’t cover their asses a bit better. Baby, it’s cold out in a world where you’re tottering on being the most expensive game ever made and title for most crowdfunded project. And yet, anger isn’t an emotion I’ve experienced.

A senior VP I worked closely with for many years and respected, gave me some valuable advice to help me temper my expectations of others, as someone who tends to over achieve. First is that most people endeavor to do the right thing and be good at their jobs. They don’t go out of their way to fail. And when they do, it’s not intentional. Accusations and recriminations aren’t helpful and don’t change the outcome. Suggestions for improvement without emotion and negative words are better received. And to remember that everything appears easier than it really is, when you’re gaping from the outside looking in.

It’s not that I’m not emotionally invested in Star Citizen being successful. I’ve pledged a considerable amount and of course want to see the day that my expectations are realized. However, I haven’t witnessed any missteps, mistakes or less than stellar choices that I perceive to be intentional. Lacking INTENT, I can be disappointed but it doesn’t move me to anger. Nor do they inspire me to issue internet threats.

If you’ve had enough, that’s your right. But do the readers on reddit or the forums really need to know that you’re done! It’s over! For you, the sky is falling and it brought the last straw with it! Take that noise to customer support and keep it moving. More importantly, why are you back next week and the week after still yapping? Move on. Let it go. It’s a game. When I’m done with a thing, I’m done with a thing.

CIG has certainly had their fair share of speed bumps and times they appear out of touch, at least with the vocal minority, which I’m not a fan of them reacting to anyway, and even then I’m still all in. It’s not defending. It’s not being a zealot. It’s about realizing this is a complicated project with many moving parts. A team effort where some of the players at bat, haven’t competed in the World Series before. This is their first quest for a championship ring and mistakes will be made. Even Jordan has failed – missed a free throw, didn’t pass the ball when he should have, rimmed out of the basket at the buzzer. Who among us IS perfect? No one at your job makes mistakes? Management has never made a questionable decision?

I simply can’t see any evidence of them not working hard and trying their best to deliver the dream that is Star Citizen. Until I see evidence to the contrary, I continue to be supportive, open-minded, enthusiastic and patient.

That said, I’m not immune to being disappointed or rolling my eyes at some decisions – Holiday Live Stream I’m looking at you. And then there’s the announcement of Lumberyard which sent some people reeling. Why I don’t know. All was explained in due time. Not like we get a vote anyway so the entitled sense of needing to know details immediately seemed completely out of place to me.

Like most I wish there was more content, the whole project progressing faster, more stable, better performance, etc. But mouth foaming, spital spouting, rage posting, hate spewing angry??? Nah, not even close to warranted.

How are you feeling about CIG, Star Citizen and the community reactions overall?

LORE FROM ZERAH

Accessing ARK Starmap data bank for Tanga…

Government Alignment is Unclaimed

At the heart of an unusual rectangular planetary nebula, lies the Tanga star system. The main-sequence star at the its center has entered into a white dwarf phase.

With Tanga’s two planets located on the outer edges of the system, scientists believe its inner planets were destroyed when the star expanded. Miners have found a variety of precious and heavy metals in its asteroid belt and believe the resources to be remnants of Tanga’s inner planets. The star has ejected its outer layers and formed a picturesque nebula that draws sightseers to the system.

Tanga now consists of Tanga 1 a former gas giant, Tanga 2 an Ice Giant, the Tanga Belt Alpha asteroid belt and Jump Point access to Bremen and Odin.

Record complete. It was my pleasure to serve you. Thank you for using the The ARK.

For more information on Tanga be sure to check out the Starmap matrix on Alysianahsworld.com. I’ll include a direct link in the show notes.

PVP – ARE YOU IN OR OUT?

Even though there have always been plans for Star Citizen to include PVP, there are backers more interested in a PVE only experience. In the early days, CIG discussed having a slider that would allow players to set their preference for exposure to PVP encounters. That idea has since been scrapped for technical reasons but we haven’t had definitive information on how it will work instead.

Although I play MMOs that include PVP, I don’t consider myself a PVP player. I will fight if someone brings drama to my door. I will participate in org PVP ops. However, I would never play a game that focused heavily on PVP such as Darkfall. Some might consider EVE Online in that category but I’d disagree, because of the robust economy and industry careers options.

I think the sooner CIG clarifies how this is going to work the better off for the community. Posts from players complaining that someone is camping the landing pad at Grim Hex or killed them unprovoked at Covalex, leads me to believe they don’t understand the game they’ve signed up for. And it’s not helpful that we haven’t been provided a clear black-n-white document spelling it out.

Personally, I prefer rulesets where there are distinct PVE and PVP zones such as World of Warcraft, Aion, ArchAge, etc. I find this to be the best of both worlds. PVE only players know where to stay and PVP players have their areas of conflict. For all the horrors of the launch, hacks and cash shop grab, ArcheAge had an excellent ruleset for PVP. It rewarded players for taking the risk of traversing PVP zones. Certain materials and NPC payouts could only be acquired in PVP areas. The highest payouts for delivering goods necessitated that you cross PVP zones as well.

Want to play it safe and enjoy yourself? Great, you can do that minus the best rewards since you’re taking less risk. I did both. When I was alone delivering goods I took the best price I could get transporting across safe zones. With the guild, we travel through PVP zones on land and by sea. For these reasons, I always felt the ArchAge model was a win-win.

Based on how security has been implemented in Stanton, I get the impression that the Star Citizen PVP ruleset is going to be closer to EVE Online. There will the zones where you should be relatively safe but no game mechanics to ensure it. If someone wants to trade their life for yours, they can. If someone wants to trade their ship for yours, they can. NPC security will retaliate but it won’t prevent the aggressor from killing you first. This is how it works in EVE and for the most part, is an excellent deterrent.

Concord, EVE’s NPC security, is no joke. There is no surviving their retribution. None. If you attack someone in safe space, your ship is forfeit. There was a time when kamikaze killings of players in safe zones was done for lulz. These days, it’s a bit more sophisticated with pirates having alts or friends there to pick up dropped goods and salvage the wrecks, after killing haulers in safe zones. So now it’s done for profit but even still, it’s not a common occurrence in my experience.

I’d be okay with an EVE like model but that’s not going to be to everyone’s taste. I think the retribution options need to be strong and swift. The gradual permadeath mechanic will also be a deterrent to some but not all. Whatever the plans are, it’s important for them to be clarified sooner than later.

Let’s get the misconceptions cleared up as soon as possible so players can make informed decisions. Related to this topic, I recently did an article on Redacted.TV discussing the Top 10 Things Star Citizen players can learn from EVE Online. Some players are going to need an attitude adjustment and realignment of expectations, to get the most out of a sandbox MMO with PVP elements. EVE now has a F2P model that I highly recommend. I’ll include a link in the show notes.

That wraps up another episode of the Star Citizen NightBus. I hope you’ve enjoyed it. If you have, please considering subscribing to my channel and giving this episode a thumbs up. Also consider using my referral code if you haven’t created an account on Robertsspaceindustries.com. Doing so will give you 5K in game credits when the game goes live and grants me some in-game goodies.